Canadian payroll software pricing comparison for small businesses

Which option fits your business?

Use the table to identify a shortlist, then check province coverage and service scope. Free manual payroll is a real option when your team can complete payments and submissions. Among paid plans, compare the annual cost of your own calendar, including setup and documents. An unknown base fee or custom quote is an unresolved cost, not a zero.

Five employees, two runs per month

PayHr Manual — Free ($0 service fee). Unlimited employees, contractors and manual pay runs, with manual T4/T4A and ROE workflows. Your team arranges and verifies wage payments, tax remittances and manual submissions; bank or adviser charges may still apply. Paid automation is optional.

Examples compare service fees before tax, wages, employer contributions and remittances. They exclude promotions, optional filings and extras unless stated. All employees are paid on every run; there are no contractors. These are budgeting examples, not equivalent service packages or provider quotes.

*Knit examples use its displayed dollar rates; confirm billing currency. Other numeric examples are Canadian-dollar budgeting figures. †PaymentEvolution’s dedicated pricing and product pages disagree; confirm the applicable offer. Rise’s base fee is additional and unknown here. QuickBooks figures use the rates before displayed discounts on its Canadian accountant page; confirm your purchase-channel offer. Payworks uses the Ontario semi-monthly calculator estimate, excludes setup and taxes, and is subject to provider approval.

Add setup and year-end work

The table excludes one-time setup: PayHr automation adds $25 and the cited PaymentEvolution plan lists $55 per source account. Ask other providers to confirm all onboarding fees. PayHr’s optional automated T4/T4A filings add $15 per document and ROEs $5 each; manual workflows remain free. For five T4 documents, optional PayHr filing adds $75 to the annual budget.

Do not add filing charges to a competitor merely because PayHr charges for that option. Record each provider’s actual included services and extras. Likewise, keep a free manual payroll workflow separate from a paid service that moves money.

Build your own annual comparison

Use your expected headcount by month, not just today’s total. List ordinary payrolls, bonus runs, contractor payments and likely document needs. Calculate recurring fees first, add setup and optional services second, then apply taxes separately. Leave unknown amounts visibly blank until confirmed.

Compare a steady year and a growth year. A subscription with an employee fee responds to headcount, while a per-person-per-run charge responds to both headcount and frequency. See our monthly vs per-run calculation guide for the formulas.

Choose a shortlist by fit

First eliminate products that do not support your province or employment situations. PayHr is Ontario-first and does not support Quebec payroll. Then review payment deadlines, exports, approval permissions and the responsibilities retained by your business.

For focused comparisons, read PayHr vs Wagepoint, PayHr vs Knit, PayHr vs Rise, PayHr vs Payworks, PayHr vs QuickBooks Payroll, PayHr vs Wave Payroll, PayHr vs PaymentEvolution, PayHr vs ADP Canada. These articles explain where a lower price may come with a different workflow. Request a written quote before committing when any required cost remains uncertain.

A budget that separates three different decisions

Build three lines for your business: software and processing fees, optional services, and your own payroll labour. Put free manual payroll on the first line at $0, then estimate the work you retain on the third. For a paid plan, enter the recurring amount on the first line and only the extras you expect to buy on the second. Keep wages and statutory amounts outside this service-fee comparison because they are not money saved by choosing cheaper software.

This worksheet lets an owner distinguish a lower invoice from a genuinely simpler operating process.

Illustrative scenario, not a customer case study. Costs use the assumptions and source rates stated in this guide.

Frequently asked questions

Which Canadian payroll product is cheapest?

There is no single paid-plan answer across all team sizes and schedules. PayHr Manual is free, but requires your team to complete payment and submission work. The table gives one explicitly defined scenario rather than a universal ranking.

Should I compare promotional prices?

Use regular rates for the long-term comparison and put introductory offers in a separate first-year calculation. A discount on the base fee may leave employee fees unchanged.

Put your next payday in order

Explore PayHr’s payroll software and free manual payroll plan, or follow the workspace setup guide.